Jazz Guitar Method
The smarter way to Improve your fingerstyle jazz playing
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TrueFire
Composer
Jazz, Jazz Blues, Bossa Nova, Bebop
Genres
About the TrueFire Jazz Guitar Method
TrueFire’s Jazz Guitar Method gives you a structured, genre-focused system for learning jazz chords, comping, improvisation, and repertoire. It’s built from TrueFire’s trusted lesson library, curated and arranged in the exact order you need to grow your jazz skills with clarity and confidence.
Whether you're picking up jazz for the first time or filling in key gaps, TrueFire’s Jazz Guitar Method walks you through essential rhythm feels, chords, progressions, scales, improv and comping techniques in a step-by-step sequence you can follow at your own pace.
Work through progressive lesson sets that cover the core jazz skills: essential chords and voicings, ii–V–I progressions, comping patterns, scales, arpeggios, bebop phrasing, chord melody, and soloing concepts. Each set begins with a written study guide and ends with a targeted assignment.
You’ll build and apply real-world playing skills through specialized Labs woven throughout the Jazz Method:
- Chord Labs for essential jazz voicings and progressions
- Lick Labs for ii–V–I lines, bebop phrases, and jazz blues licks
- Song Labs for classic jazz standards
- Jam Labs with backing tracks for comping and soloing
- Soloing Labs and Artist Labs that dive into the styles of jazz legends
Move at your own pace through 27 progressive lesson sets, designed to fit any level of experience. Revisit material when needed and make consistent progress toward a deeper, more authentic jazz sound.
Use TrueFire’s advanced learning tools to loop, slow down, or speed up any lesson. Watch synced tab and notation, download printable materials and Guitar Pro files, and record your own playing to reflect, submit assignments, or get feedback.
Complete every homework assignment in Jazz Guitar Method and submit your final form for review. Once approved, you’ll receive $20 in TrueFire Cash added directly to your account. Practice with purpose and get rewarded for the effort.
TrueFire’s Jazz Guitar Method gives you the structure, depth, and inspiration to finally play jazz with confidence and authenticity.
Grab your guitar, and start your jazz guitar journey today.
What you'll learn
To self-assess, prioritize your goals, and optimize your practice time.
To build the core jazz foundation you need to play basic tunes, comp confidently, and begin improvising with an authentic jazz feel.
To navigate songs and chord changes more fluently while developing stronger rhythm, soloing skills, and a more convincing jazz sound.
To step into any jazz jam or gig with the confidence, musical instincts, and expressive voice of a real jazz guitarist.
What's included
28 lesson sets • 24 labs • 445 video lessons & playalongs
The Jazz Guitar Method is a structured, step-by-step approach that helps you develop authentic jazz skills—rhythmic feel, vocabulary, technique, phrasing, and musical judgment—by playing, rather than cramming theory, tedious exercises, or reading music.
Each lesson introduces a musical device or technique, which you will immediately apply over studio-recorded backing tracks, ensuring you’re always learning in a real-world musical context.
The Method is presented across three Levels. Within each Level, you’ll find Lesson Sets and Labs. Lesson Sets are the core units of learning; each one builds directly on the previous and ends with a short assignment so you can demonstrate the skill and receive feedback.
Labs—Lick Labs, Song Labs, Chord Labs, Soloing Labs, and Artist Labs—are reference hubs you’ll revisit throughout the Method. Labs don’t have assignments, but they’re places to ask questions, share quick clips, compare notes, and learn from peers and staff.
Ready to Practice smart and Play Hard? Dive in!
Level 1 sets your foundation.
You’ll learn 10 movable jazz chords, work through 14 common progressions, and comp classic feels—four-to-the-bar, bossa nova, and blues shuffle. You’ll also explore how chords and melody connect and start a practical vocabulary with six versatile jazz licks.
- Essential jazz chords and voicings
- Basic jazz rhythms and rhythm feels
- Foundational ii–V–I progressions
- Introduction to jazz licks
- Essential comping patterns
- Basic scales and arpeggios for jazz
Level 2 expands your language and command of changes.
You’ll add seven essential jazz scales, apply arpeggios, internalize Major and Minor II–V–I progressions with ten II–V–I licks, and broaden colors with Minor Pentatonic (five licks) and the Major scale (five Maj7 licks). You’ll tackle Jazz Blues forms with 13 licks and four solos, study chord-tone soloing, learn five standards, and develop chord-melody technique.
- Jazz soloing concepts
- Intermediate jazz chord progressions
- Learning jazz standards
- Deeper comping techniques
- Improvisation fundamentals
- Developing a jazz vocabulary
Level 3 refines expression and performance.
You’ll add depth with substitutions, chromatic approaches, enclosures, and rhythmic displacement, study full-length solos, craft chord-melody arrangements, and work through pro-level performance studies. Labs deliver authentic bebop, swing, and modern vocabulary; you’ll trade solos with top-tier players, unpack their approaches in Artist Labs, and practice live call-and-response interaction.
- Bebop phrasing and vocabulary
- Chromatic approaches and enclosures
- Chord substitutions
- Rhythmic displacement
- Chord-melody arrangements
- Full-length solo study
- Pro-level performance studies
- Modern jazz vocabulary
- Call-and-response improvisation
- Artist-style analysis (Artist Labs)
